Antiques Roadshow guest left startled as 'old book' valued at thousands
A guest on the Antiques Roadshow was surprised to find out that a collection of drawings that she had thought was "just like an old book" could now be worth up to £10,000.
The episode of the BBC show that aired on Sunday evening saw presenter Fiona Bruce and a variety of specialists visit Brodie Castle in Scotland. Matthew Haley, who specialises in books and manuscripts, was among those in attendance.
Whilst on the estate, he was introduced to a guest who had brought along a book containing artwork dating back more than a century. The collection, said to have been inherited from an aunt, included paintings of flowers and insects.
The book had the title Drawings by the De Alwis family and also referenced the location Ceylon. Sharing his thoughts, Matthew stated: "This is one of the biggest and most spectacular books I've seen on the Antiques Roadshow."
He continued amid his evaluation: "Ceylon is what we called Sri Lanka in the past. It was a British territory from about 1850 into the middle of the 20th century. [This book from there is] filled with these absolutely beautiful watercolours."
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Books specialist Matthew Haley (left) surprised a guest (right) on Antiques Roadshow with a valuation of a collection of artwork (BBC)The guest told the specialist that the book had belonged to an aunt who was born in the early 1930s. "She was given this as a book just to draw in, as a toy sort of, and there are some drawings and writing from her as a child. [...] When she passed it away, it was inherited by us," the guest added.
Analysing the antique in the episode, originally broadcast in 2022, Matthew said: "[It's] filled with spectacular watercolours and they're all relating to this family, De Alwis." He said they are "one of the most prominent families" in Sri Lanka.
As some of the art was shown, he said: "The watercolours are incredibly finely done. A lot of them are dated and initialed from the 1880s. And the quality and workmanship and scholarship of them is just absolutely wonderful.
"It covers plant life from Sri Lanka, trees, nuts and fruits. Absolutely stunning flowers. Some of the illustrations actually fold out. [...] and then it goes on to cover insects. And there are some incredibly charming ones [...] So it's a whole natural history of the island. Really just a very, very beautiful thing, the like of which we very rarely see."
The guest brought along the book for a valuation in an episode of the BBC show that was broadcast this weekend (BBC)It was revealed that the guest's late relative had added a boat and a plane to the book when she had it. Matthew went on to tease during the discussion: "Fortunately, she hasn't had too much of a go at the watercolours."
Asked her thoughts about its value moments later, the guest shared: "It was valued once before at £5,000 but that was quite a long time ago." Matthew said he wasn't surprised and then offered his own updated valuation for the book of art.
The specialist commented: "That doesn't surprise me for a moment. These sorts of watercolours of this quality and this condition are really, really sought after. Nowadays, I would expect it to make something closer towards £10,000."
The guest was visibly surprised and said: "Wow! Wow, gosh!" Matthew teased: "Not exactly the sort of thing you should let younger family members draw on." The guest replied: "No, I know. It's just like an old book and a collection of stuff, that's all we thought it was." And seemingly still taken aback by the valuation of the antique, she added: "Wow! That's amazing."
Antiques Roadshow continues next Sunday evening on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 7pm. Some episodes of the show are available through the streaming platform.
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